ART

ROTHSHANK%2C+JUSTIN

We believe that artwork and creativity are a catalyst for social change and economic improvement as well as enhancing everyday lives with beauty. Art gives a voice to the voiceless, enables self understanding, and provides a window into other cultures. These are among the reasons we have chosen to pursue lives as working artists.

We commit to:
Respect and cherish our environment
Seek and promote non-violent means of reconciliation
Tithe regularly
Participate in a faith community
Educate ourselves and those around us

- Brooke and Justin Rothshank, 2009

BIOGRAPHY
Justin Rothshank is a studio ceramic artist working in Goshen, Indiana. In 2001 he co-founded the Union Project, a nonprofit organization located in Pittsburgh, PA, where he served as Associate Director and Principal Artist until 2009. Justin's work at the Union Project was recognized with numerous historic preservation and social innovation awards from city, state, and national organizations.

Justin's ceramic work has been exhibited and published internationally, including articles in Ceramics Monthly, American Craft, Studio Potter, The Log Book, and neue Keramik. He has been a presenter, panelist, visiting artist, and artist-in-residence at numerous universities, schools, conferences, and art centers throughout the United States and abroad. In 2012 Justin released a DVD, Ceramic Decals: New Ideals and Techniques, published by Ceramic Arts Daily. His functional and decorative ceramic ware is available for purchase in more than two dozen galleries and gift shops around the country.

In the Spring of 2010 Justin was an invited Artist-in-Residence at Baltimore Clayworks, in Maryland, where he made and freely distributed hundreds of cups that were decorated by and with community members around the theme "Cups of Hope". In Summer 2010 Justin designed and built a two-chamber wood kiln at his home studio with the help of friends from Missouri and Sweden. He produces a line of functional and decorative wood fired ware fired in this kiln.

Justin was presented with an Award of Excellence by the American Craft Council in February 2009. In 2007 he was recognized by Ceramics Monthly Magazine as an Emerging Artist. He has also been awarded an Alcoa Foundation Leadership Award from Goshen College, and was named to Pittsburgh Magazine's 40 under 40 in 2005.

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
Associate Artist, Baltimore Clayworks
Member, National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts
Member, American Craft Council
Member, Goshen Clay Artists Guild
Past Board Member and Founder, Union Project